Last updated on March 29th, 2022. Before moving into a high rise apartment, I never gave much thought to getting groceries. Getting groceries was straight-forward: load up the car, drive home and bring them inside. Simple! When living in high rise apartment buildings or other large urban areas, getting groceries and day-to-day supplies is a bit more…involved. These otherwise simple tasks include walking long distances, traveling up stairs and carrying lots of heavy stuff. If you’ve got a few large items like a couple gallons of milk or a pack of paper towels, forget it! As someone who’s been living in high rise apartments for a decade, believe me when I say that a foldable shopping cart is a lifesaver. Ours gets filled to the brim multiple times per week – both leaving and coming home. That said, there are many folding shopping carts to choose from. Which is best? If you’re looking for the best grocery carts for apartments, be sure to scroll through this article. We’ve picked out four top apartment cart models, including the one we have ourselves – including pictures!
Table Of Contents: Jump Ahead By Clicking Below:
- Benefits
- Best All-Around Apartment Cart
- Strongest Apartment Cart
- Largest Apartment Cart
- Best Apartment Cart For Stairs
- Pictures Of Our VersaCar (2+ Years)
Benefits Of Buying A Foldable Shopping Cart For Apartment Living: How We Use Ours
Before we recommend specific models, I want to give some examples of what groceries carts for apartments can be used for, from experience. We’ve used ours every couple of days for the past couple years. Here are some examples:
- Groceries: Buying enough food for one week plus larger items like milk, water, toilet paper and other similar items. We use it getting from our garage to our apartment which is a several minute walk.
- Weekend Trip: Our folding apartment cart gets loaded up for many occasions like this. For example, we fit a bunch of hiking gear plus normal luggage in our apartment cart for a trip to a cabin. We used it when we got there, too.
- Helping Out Family For A Weekend: We helped do some light construction at the in-laws’ house. We brought a bag of tools plus several random supplies for the work we were doing plus some clothes, etc. We also brought our cat for the couple days we were gone, so her supplies came too.
These are just a few examples of how we use our folding apartment cart. It seems simple, but doing all of the above without a cart would involve a ton of time, effort and frustration on a routine basis!
Now let’s get into talking about the best grocery carts for apartments.
The Best Grocery Carts For Apartments: Our Top 4 Picks
Time for the fun stuff. While researching the latest grocery carts for apartments on the market, I was reminded of just how many types, styles and capacities these types of carts come in. To help narrow it down a bit, we’ve chosen our pick in each of the following categories:
- Best All-Around Shopping Cart: VersaCart Original Transit
- Strongest Shopping Cart: WinKeep Jumbo Grocery Cart
- Largest Shopping Cart: MacSports Outdoor Utility Wagon
- Best Shopping Cart For Stairs: Hereinway Folding Cart With Swivel Wheels For Stairs
Scroll below to read the specific reasons we’ve chosen these carts.
Best All-Around Shopping Cart
We’ve had our VersaCart for over two years now and I must say, this thing is tough. Given that we use ours at least once per week for groceries and other miscellaneous logistic-stuff, we’ve now used ours hundreds of times. Never had an issue with it.
When I consider how light it is, the amount of stuff we can carry, its’ pivoting wheels, velcro cover and removable, durable polyblend canvas liner (with handles), we’ve chosen the VersaCart as the top all-around shopping cart for apartment living.
P.S. It easily fits in our closet and trunk!
- Interior Dimensions: 21-in. H x 17-in. W x 18-in. D
- Interior Volume: 6,426 Cu. In. / 3.72 Cu. Ft. / 105.3 L
- Folded Dimensions: 43-in. H x 8-in. W x 9-in. D
- Max. Load: 120-lbs.
- Weight of Cart: 9-lbs.
- Pivoting/Caster Wheels: Yes
- Removable Liner: Yes
- Cover: Yes
Strongest Shopping Cart
If you routinely move really heavy stuff in and out of your apartment, then WinKeep’s Jumbo Grocery Cart is what you’re looking for.
Built with steel, this cart can carry a staggering 330-lbs. of cargo. If you need a shopping cart for apartment living that can carry heavy items – building materials, weights, liquids, etc. – while still saving space, WinKeep nails it.
- Interior Dimensions: 25-in. H x 20-in. W x 20-in. D
- Interior Volume: 10,000 Cu. In. / 5.79 Cu. Ft. / 163.9 L
- Folded Dimensions: 45-in. H x 24-in. W x 6-in. D
- Max. Load: 330-lbs.
- Weight of Cart: 18-lbs.
- Pivoting/Caster Wheels: Yes
- Removable Liner: No
- Cover: No
Largest Shopping Cart
As we’ve found ourselves, there are times when even our Versacart has trouble fitting things. Whether it be due to sheer volume of items or the dimensions of a larger, awkward one, there are times when a large folding shopping cart is required. If you have kids, I can only imagine this is true times 10!
While we’ve had to get creative a few times, you can always just pick up an Outdoor Utility Wagon by MacSports.
The Utility Wagon is similar in a few ways to the Versacart, just larger. It features a durable, removable 600D fabric liner (with handles). The caster wheels make it easy to turn. The framing is made with steel for added strength. The Utility Wagon folds up to a compact size for storage, despite its’ larger dimensions.
The Utility Wagon doesn’t have a cover, but that’s a good thing in terms of cargo space – its’ wider footprint allows for large items to fit within it while not being limited vertically.
Plan on taking it outdoors or offroad? No problem. The Utility Wagon features rubber-coater, rugged wheels.
If you need a shopping cart for apartment living that can hold large items, the Utility Wagon is for you.
- Interior Dimensions: 32-in. L x 20-in. W x 17.4-in. H
- Interior Volume: 11,136 Cu. In. / 6.44 Cu. Ft. / 182.4 L
- Folded Dimensions: 29.5-in. H x 20-in. W x 8-in. D
- Max. Load: 150-lbs.
- Weight of Cart: 22.5-lbs.
- Pivoting/Caster Wheels: Yes
- Removable Liner: Yes
- Cover: No
Best Shopping Cart For Stairs
No matter which cart you choose, most of them will struggle in one area: going up the stairs.
Sure, some will fare better than others, but it’ll be a pain to pull your heavy cart up stairs – at best! If your trip from the store involves stairs or you live in a building without an elevator, you know this to be true, as well. If only there was a folding shopping cart made specifically for going up stairs…
There is! The Hereinway Folding Cart features pivoting rear wheels and an ergonomic handle that allows your cart to be pulled up the stairs right behind you.
Combine this with a sturdy metal frame, pivoting caster wheels, removable liner and decent interior space, the Hereinway Folding Cart is our top pick as the best shopping cart for apartment living that’s specifically designed to ‘climb’ stairs.
- Interior Dimensions: 15.7-in. H x 11.8-in. W x 10.6-in. D
- Interior Volume: 1,964 Cu. In. / 1.14 Cu. Ft. / 32.3 L
- Folded Dimensions: 37-in. H x 21-in. W x 8.3-in. D
- Max. Load: 110-lbs.
- Weight of Cart: 9.5-lb.
- Pivoting/Caster Wheels: Yes
- Removable Liner: Yes
- Cover: No
Pictures Of Our Versacart Original Transit After Two Years
In case you’re curious about how the Versacart holds up over a two year period, here are some additional photos of ours after being used for a while.
The Best Shopping Cart For Apartment Living: In Summary
I hope this article has helped you decide which type of folding shopping cart is right for you. Ultimately, the best shopping cart for apartment living will be the one that meets your specific needs the closest. Thanks for reading and enjoy.
